Power unit with stored energy

ABSTRACT

The weight of a high pressure storage vessel 20 for an oxidant used to oxidize fuel in a combustor 12 which in turn provides gases of combustion to a turbine wheel 10 may be minimized by providing an incendiary device 32 within the vessel 20 which is triggered by a sensor 34, 36 in response to some sensed characteristic of the oxidant within the vessel 20 to increase the pressure within the vessel 20 and to drive the oxidant to the combustor 12.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a power unit such as a turbine that may beoperated at high altitudes utilizing stored energy.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Increased sophistication in aircraft has resulted in so-called"fly-by-wire" aircraft wherein the controls operated by the pilot andcontrol surfaces responsive to the controls are not directlymechanically coupled. Rather, the same may be coupled by electrical orhydraulic systems. That in turn requires that electrical or hydraulicenergy be available at all times or else the link between the controlsand the control surfaces is lost.

Consequently, such aircraft require advanced airborne secondary powersystems. Particularly when used in military applications, such secondarypower systems must be capable of operation at remote sites with aminimum use of special ground support equipment. In addition, the samemust be capable of virtually instant start up from an inactive position,whether at sea level or at extremely high altitudes in excess of 50,000feet.

Frequently the power systems include power units known as auxiliarypower units or emergency power units or combinations of both. Theseunits generally provide useful work as an output from a turbine enginewhich in turn is normally driven by gases of combustion.

While this presents no difficulties in most instances, at highaltitudes, where the air is least dense meaning that a given volume hasa minimal quantity of oxygen, starting of such power units in such a waythat energy therefrom will be available to operate control surfaces inresponse to control commands within an elapsed time of two or threeseconds, difficulties are encountered.

One prior art proposal for avoiding the difficulty includes the use ofhydrazine which is stored on board the aircraft. The hydrazine isapplied to a catalytic chamber wherein it decomposes and generates gasunder pressure sufficient to drive a turbine wheel and accelerate thesame to the point where its operation can become self sustaining ataltitude. While this works well, storage of unstable material such ashydrazine aboard aircraft is not desired and the same requires specialhandling and may not be readily available for use at remote sites.

The present invention is directed to overcoming the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is the principal object of the invention to provide a new andimproved power unit that is adapted for use in aircraft as a secondarypower system. More particularly, it is an object of the invention toprovide such a power unit that is self sufficient and capable ofproviding rapid starts of turbine engines in a wide variety ofenvironments and which is capable of operation and servicing in remotesites with a minimum of ground support equipment.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention achieves the foregoing objectsin a system including a combustor for receiving fuel and an oxidant andcombusting the same to provide gases of combustion. A turbine wheel isprovided and is adapted to receive the gases of combustion and produceuseful work. The turbine wheel is connected to the combustor. Means areprovided for supplying fuel to the combustor along with means forsupplying an oxidant thereto. The oxidant supplying means include a highpressure storage vessel for receiving and storing the oxidant, valvemeans that are selectively operable to control the flow of oxidant fromthe vessel to the combustor, an incendiary device in the vessel which isoperable to produce an increase in oxidant pressure within the vessel,and a sensor for triggering the incendiary device when a predeterminedcharacteristic of the oxidant is observed.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the incendiary device is anexplosive containing its own oxidant so that it is operable to producean increase in the oxidant pressure within the vessel without consumingthe stored oxidant therein thereby allowing the oxidant in the vessel tobe used fully for combusting fuel to drive the turbine.

In one embodiment of the invention, the sensed characteristic ispressure related. In another embodiment of the invention, the sensedcharacteristic is temperature related.

A preferred embodiment of the invention contemplates that the valvemeans include a flow control valve and a pressure regulator and thesensor is upstream of the pressure regulator.

In addition, it is preferred that the vessel include a burst disc andthe same may be additionally provided with an inlet connectable to arecharge compressor where the oxidant is air or oxygen enriched air.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingspecification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The FIGURE is a schematic view of a power unit made according to theinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An exemplary embodiment of a power unit made according to the inventionis illustrated in the FIGURE and is seen to include a turbine wheel 10that is adapted to be rotated by gases of combustion received from aconventional combustor 12. An output shaft 14 from the turbine 10 may beconnected to a generator, a pump, combinations thereof, etc. to producepower that may be utilized as desired.

The combustor includes one or more fuel injectors schematicallyillustrated at 16 as well as one or more inlets schematicallyillustrated at 18 for an oxidant. In a preferred embodiment, the oxidantwill be air or oxygen enriched air although in some instances, it may bemolecular oxygen.

The invention contemplates the provision of unique means for supplyingthe oxidant to the inlet 18. In particular, there is provided a highpressure storage vessel shown schematically at 20 which will typicallystore the oxidant at pressures on the order of, say, 4500 psi. Theoxidant may be introduced into the vessel 20 through an inlet 22controlled by a valve 24 which may be connected to a recharge compressor(not shown). The recharge compressor may be part of the aircraft itselfor may be part of ground support equipment, or both.

The vessel 20 is provided with a burst disc shown schematically at 26.The burst disc 28 is a safety device and is designed to burst andrelieve pressure within the vessel 20 when some predetermined pressurelevel has been exceeded.

The vessel 20 includes an oxidant outlet 28 and flow therefrom iscontrolled by a flow control valve 30. The flow control valve is thenconnected to a pressure reducing and/or regulating valve 32 whichprovides oxidant to the inlet 18 at a constant pressure, say, 600 psi.

According to the invention, an incendiary device 32 is disposed withinthe vessel 20. The incendiary device 32 preferably is an explosivedevice such that when triggered, it will cause a pressure rise withinthe vessel 20. The pressure rise may be a result of the explosion of thematerial of the device 32 or it may result from the heating of theoxidant contained within the vessel 20 when the incendiary device 32 istriggered, or both.

In a highly preferred embodiment, any one of those types of incendiarydevices 32 that contain a fuel and a stoichiometric quantity of oxidantfor that fuel is utilized. In this way, the firing of the incendiarydevice 32 does not consume any of the oxidant stored within the vessel20, leaving such oxidant for use in combusting fuel within the combustor12.

The incendiary device 32 may be triggered in either one or both of twoways. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a pressuresensor 34 is connected to the outlet 28 at a location upstream of thepressure regulator 32 so that it can sense the pressure within thevessel 20 when the system is operative. When the pressure drops to someparticular level that is insufficient to provide the desired flow rateof oxidant to the combustor 12, the incendiary device 32 is fired by thesensor 34.

Alternatively, or even additively, a second sensor 36 including atemperature sensing probe 38 within the vessel 20 may be utilized totrigger the incendiary device 32. Temperature sensing is a viable meansof sensing the need for operation of the incendiary device 32 since athigh altitudes where turbine starting may be a problem, coldtemperatures are present and may result in a lowering of the pressurewithin the vessel 20.

In a typical case, the vessel 20 may contain enough oxidant to assure,say, three starts of the turbine 10. In the process of the first start,and even in the process of accomplishing the second start, there willtypically be enough residual pressure within the vessel 20 such that theincendiary device 32 need not be operated. However, in the third start,it may be necessary to fire the incendiary device 32 to providesufficient pressure to drive the remaining oxidant from the vessel 20 tothe inlet 18.

Typically, the incendiary device 32 may be fired when the availableoxidant mass within the vessel 20 is approximately 50% of the originalamount. This is required due to the rapid temperature and pressure dropthat will occur in the oxidant as a result of the expansion process thatresults when the valve 30 is opened. The firing of the incendiary device32 will then increase the usable quantity of oxidant within the vessel20 from approximately 50% to approximately 85%. This in turn permits thevessel 20 to be down sized from what it would otherwise be without theincendiary device 32. Given the pressure resistance requirements of thevessel 20, such down sizing produces a substantial weight savings whichis highly desirable in aircraft.

Another desirable feature of the invention is that, to the extentoxidant within the vessel 20 may be in the liquid phase, the heatgenerated by the incendiary device 32 will cause the same to vaporize tomore fully empty the vessel 20.

We claim:
 1. A power unit comprising:a combustor for receiving a fueland an oxidant and combusting the same to provide gases of combustion; aturbine wheel adapted to receive gases of combustion and produce usefulwork, said turbine wheel being connected to said combustor; means forsupplying fuel to said combustor; and means for selectively supplying anoxidant to said combustor including a high pressure storage vessel forreceiving and storing the oxidant, valve means selectively operable tocontrol the flow of oxidant from aid vessel to the combustor, anexplosive means in said vessel and operable to produce an increase inpressure within said vessel without consuming oxidant therein, and asensor for triggering said explosive device when a predeterminedcharacteristic of the oxidant is sensed.
 2. The power unit of claim 1wherein said characteristic is temperature related.
 3. The power unit ofclaim 1 wherein said characteristic is pressure related.
 4. The powerunit of claim 1 wherein said valve means comprises a flow control valveand a pressure regulator, said sensor being upstream of said pressureregulator.
 5. The power unit of claim 1 wherein said vessel includes aburst disc.
 6. A power unit comprising:a combustor for receiving a fueland an oxidant and combusting the same to provide gases of combustion; aturbine wheel adapted to receive gases of combustion and produce usefulwork, said turbine wheel being connected to said combustor; means forsupplying fuel to said combustor; and means for selectively supplying anoxidant to said combustor including a high pressure storage vessel forreceiving and starting the oxidant, valve means selectively operable tocontrol the flow of oxidant from said vessel to the combustor, anoxidant containing incendiary means in said vessel operable to producean increase in oxidant pressure within said vessel and a sensor fortriggering said incendiary device when a predetermined characteristic ofthe oxidant is sensed.
 7. The power unit of claim 6 wherein saidcharacteristic is pressure or temperature related and said valve meanscomprises a flow control valve and a pressure regulator, said sensorbeing upstream of said pressure regulator, said vessel further includinga burst disc and an inlet connectable to a recharge compressor.